


only shadows ahead (barely clearing the roof)

by Eirwyn



Series: Sky Pirate AU [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sky Pirates, Canon-Typical Violence, Minor Character Death, Multi, The Briarwood arc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-14 01:44:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17499266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eirwyn/pseuds/Eirwyn
Summary: “Are those… names?” Vex asked hesitantly. Percy looked at her, a sustained, considered look before slowly nodding.“Who are they?” Pike asked next, a slow coil of trepidation curling through her stomach. Percy had kept that little fact secret for a year, and there could be no good reason for him telling the rest of them now.“The five people responsible for Cassandra and I losing everything. Lord Briarwood, Lady Briarwood, Dr Anna Ripley, Sir Kerrion Stonefell and Professor Anders.” Percy took a deep breath, and as he did so, Pike noticed that his hands were shaking. “My friends know some of this already, but the Briarwoods had help overthrowing my family. These three people remain here, rewarded for their crimes. I want them dead first. I want the Briarwoods to know that the de Rolos are back to claim what is theirs.”Percy returns to Whitestone, to finally confront what he's been running from for a year. The crew are with him, as are some new companions, but there are things waiting in store for all of them that will test their bonds to the limit.





	only shadows ahead (barely clearing the roof)

**Author's Note:**

> I figured it wasn't fair to keep this tucked away for myself, just because I still haven't finished it! Look, Whitestone challenges me, but I didn't realise how much until I started writing this. Also, what with the new kids on the block, I'm losing the sense of Vox Machina. 
> 
> I'm still working on this, I swear. It will be finished, even if it takes me five years.

Nearly a week later, and Pike was finding the surprise she pulled on everyone a lot less funny, now that the reality of the situation had set in. It had been decided that flying to Whitestone was a bad idea, since it was clear that the Briarwoods knew that Percy was on an airship, and that it would also be a better idea to try and sneak into Whitestone, minimising the chances that the people of Whitestone would be dragged into what was inevitably going to be a bloody fight. 

Therefore, Little Sunbird had been left in Vasselheim, moored in a safe place, and Gilmore had stayed behind to keep an eye on it for them. Then, the crew, plus Kima and Allura, had started to make their way from Vasselheim across the Ozmit sea, and then north towards Whitestone, on foot. It was unbearably slow. Most of the crew had, at one point or another, had to rough it through forests and over fields, but it was getting tedious, and everyone was jumpy, not sure what it was, exactly, they were heading towards.

Percy had lost the argument with Cassandra about her staying behind in Vasselheim with Gilmore to look after the ship, and he had lost it quite spectacularly. Pike had never seen Percy so completely lost for words as his little sister calmly packed up her things and verbally went for his throat. The end result being that Cassandra was with them, and considerably more calm than her older brother, but she was the least experienced with camping and travelling rough, so the whole experience was probably a lot less boring for her. Pike hoped she was treating it more like a learning experience rather than a march to the home of her worst fears.

Pike would have understood if the de Rolo siblings were the grumpiest of their party, but that dubious honour went to the twins. They had been surly and uncommunicative since the ten of them had left Vasselheim, and Pike honestly couldn’t tell if it was because of the company they were currently keeping, or because they disapproved of the current path they were taking. 

After what felt like forever, but in reality wasn’t more than ten days, of travelling by day and camping by night in near complete silence, Pike had had enough. So, that night, as everyone was sitting around the campfire, eating or resting, or in Vex’s case, playing with Trinket’s fur as the bear rumbled with contentment, Pike asked casually, “So, we all know each other fairly well at this point, but we don’t know anything about you two. Whereabouts are you from?”

Allura and Kima glanced at each other, before Allura replied, “Well, we’re both from Tal’dorei. I’m from Emon and Kima’s….”

“I’m from a tiny little town called Drynna.” Kima replied, chewing casually. “It’s near Stillben? Nothing ever happens there, which is why I left.”

Pike nodded, pausing briefly to see whether any of her crew were going to pull their weight in the conversation, and when nobody said anything, Pike rolled her eyes and said, “And how did the two of you meet?”

“We adventured together,” Kima replied, and _that_ got everyone’s attention immediately, heads lifting up and bodies shifting closer, and Grog immediately blurted out, “You were _adventurers_?” before Pike could elbow him somewhere painful.

Allura nodded and blushed a little, a light dusting of pink across her cheekbones and said, “Yes, Kima and I, along with four others.”

“Why did you _stop_?” Grog asked, as Vex muttered, “That is totally not what I had thought was coming.”

Kima’s expression, which had been open, if a little challenging, immediately changed. Pike had never seen the shutters come down so fast and so completely on a person, and Allura changed as well, going from pink-faced embarrassment to a sad solemnity that really answered the question more than any words could.

“Ah,” said Pike, in the absence of anything better forthcoming. “How did it happen?”

“After Thordak destroyed Byroden,” began Allura quietly, “our group was tasked with finding a way to destroy him. We couldn’t kill him, but we could seal him into the Elemental Plane of fire, thus ridding Tal’dorei of the problem. The battle and subsequent ritual to do so were… difficult. Three of our friends died that day. The three of us that were left… I don’t think any of us had the heart to continue.”

“Wait,” said Keyleth, a frown on her face, “You said you sealed him into the Elemental Plane of fire? The Ashari…?”

“Helped us,” Allura said in answer to the unspoken question. “The weak point between the two planes, is, after all, their responsibility. We would never have done it without their permission, Keyleth, I promise you.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Keyleth said, her voice trembling. “If Thordak had to break out of that plane in order to be here, he would have come through there, because it’s a weak point, like you said. And if the Fire Ashari helped, he would have been angry at them. Has… has anyone heard from them?”

Kima and Allura looked at each other, and Allura’s face was guilty as she replied, “No-one’s sent word, Keyleth, we hadn’t thought to. When we get back to Vasselheim, we’ll find out straight away. I’m sorry we didn’t think of it sooner.”

The group of them laid themselves down to sleep, clustering around Trinket as was the habit in order to keep warm when the fire was put out, and the next day, towards midday, they crested the top of a hill and found themselves looking down at Whitestone. Pike looked at the city laid out before her, and thought quietly to herself that the city must have been very beautiful, once upon a time. She could see the castle towards the back of the city, rising up on another one of the hills that surrounded Whitestone, and the city before it. The name Whitestone was well given, as even in the gloom and under dark clouds, the houses gleamed white and clean, but nothing of the rest of the city did. There were large shambling things wandering the streets, and both Kima and Pike flinched as they looked at them, knowing somewhere down where their power lived that these things were undead, which explained the blanket cloud cover.

“We need to get down there, without being seen by those things.” Kima said confidently, and Pike heard others begin to offer out ideas but she was looking over at the de Rolo siblings, Cassandra with her hands wrapped around one of Percy’s arms, both of them fixated on the castle, their faces pale and drawn and so very identical in that moment. 

Pike stepped over and reached out to touch Cassandra’s elbow, waiting for the young woman to look down at her, and she smiled gently at her, “Are you going to be okay?”

“Don’t you become as bad as my brother,” Cassandra replied, but her voice had no bite to it, in fact, it was quite gentle, which told Pike that however well Cassandra was holding herself together, there were cracks starting to form, cracks that were replicated in her brother, who was gripping his gun, his knuckles white with how tightly he was holding it.

“Hey,” Scanlan said, his face still keeping his bright smile on, but his eyes were much more solemn and that actually reassured Pike, that Scanlan was taking this seriously by pretending not to take it seriously, “I’m going to turn some of us invisible, as is Allura, and we’ll sneak in. Is that okay?”

“Sure,” Pike replied, “Who’s going with who?”

“I will never leave you, Pikey,” Scanlan replied, which answered the question in one manner of speaking, but with a look from Pike, he quickly elaborated, “I’ll take you, Grog, Percy and Cass. Allura’s going to take Kima, Keyleth and the twins. I think the twins are still a bit suspicious of them.”

Pike rolled her eyes a little, “Sarenrae save me from paranoid half-elves. How are we all going to stay together? Is it just going to be a case of holding hands?”

“Allura and I are also going to cast _See Invisibility_ , which means we’ll be able to keep track of all of you and can stick with each other. Both spells only last a hour, so we’ll have to be quick.” Scanlan hesitated, uncharacteristically serious as he added, “We need to be careful, Pike. I don’t know much of what’s going on down there, but none of it… none of it looks good.”

Pike rested a hand on his shoulder and replied, “You’re not wrong, my friend, but let’s get on with it, shall we?” 

The two groups joined hands, Scanlan and Allura chanted their spell, and once again, Pike was treated to the disconcerting experience of being able to look right through where she knew she ought to be. She felt her hand being taken, and Scanlan’s voice floating out of nowhere as he said, “Right, lead on de Rolos. Where are we going first?”

“Just down into the town.” Percy’s voice replied. “Cass and I need to get our bearings.”

As they made their way through the hills and forest and reached the first house, making their way further and further into the township, Pike could feel the sense of despair pervading throughout the town start to wind its way through the group. Every time some new horror was revealed to them: bricked up windows, young children shivering on the street, pale and gaunt, armoured thugs terrorising people just trying to go about their days and the overwhelming sense of _death_ around the place, Pike could feel the group of them crowd closer, as if by their very proximity to each other, they could hold each other up.

They were maybe half a hour into the town, nearing the town square, and had seen a grand total of fifteen people in a town that Percy had always described to them as bustling, when Pike heard Percy’s voice say worriedly, “Cass?”

There was no reply, but Percy gasped out, “She’s let go of my hand. Scanlan, where is she?”

Pike felt the hand in hers tighten and pull her forward as Scanlan replied, “On the ground, Percy, don’t move. Pike, I’m taking you to her, she doesn’t look right.”

Pike felt herself gently guided to kneel on the ground, and her hands placed onto what Pike guessed was Cassandra’s back. As Pike carefully felt along Cassandra’s back, establishing that she was breathing, but it was shallow and irregular, and the girl was curled up on the floor, shaking as if she were having a fit, which Pike was not entirely convinced she wasn’t.

Not thirty seconds later, Scanlan was back, urging Pike back from where Cass was collapsed on the ground and carefully guiding Grog into picking her up. Across from them was a clearly abandoned tavern, most of its windows and doors boarded up, but a solid smack from Kima quickly broke one of the more rotted planks boarding up a door and all of them piled inside. As Vax carefully put the plank back into place, trying to make it look as if it had never been disturbed, Pike called out urgently, “Drop the invisibility!”

All ten of them suddenly flickered back into view, and Pike immediately told Grog to lay Cassandra on the least dusty table and began to inspect her. Cass had gone paler than the snow, making all of her blue veins stand out in her face, giving her the look of a person that was almost dead. Her eyes were rolled back in her head, and nothing Pike did could get Cass to focus on her. She was shaking all over, one hand gripping the hilt of her rapier in a white-knuckled grip that wouldn’t shift. 

Percy was up by Cassandra’s head, looking completely helpless, and Pike found herself being forced to say, “There’s nothing I can do for her, Percy. We’ve got to let her go through it, and hopefully she’ll get herself out of it.”

“ _What_ is it?”

Pike looked at Percy, knowing that her confusion was written all over her face, “I don’t know. She’s never done something like this before?”

Percy shook his head, his gaze drifting back over to where Cass lay, shaking and helpless. Pike opened her mouth to say something, what she wasn’t sure, but before she could get even a sound out, Vex came jumping down the stairs, Trinket bounding along behind her and called, “Pike, you should see this!” before turning around and running back up them.

Pike followed her up onto the upper floor of the tavern and into a room that didn’t have its window boarded up and overlooked the town square. Vax and Keyleth were standing together to one side of the window, having what looked like a pretty intense discussion. Pike looked out of the window as Vex gestured to it, and almost immediately had to look away again. She had registered that the town square had a big, old, dead tree in it, but beyond that she hadn’t really looked, too busy trying to be stealthy and then worrying about Cassandra. What she now saw made her sick to her stomach.

There were bodies, hanging from the tree, crude nooses keeping them dangling from the branches. From where Pike was standing she could see eight bodies, two of which were definitely children, and another was definitely an older teenager, certainly not older than Cassandra. All of them were dressed simply and poorly, in clothes that had seen a lot of repair. There was nothing about them to suggest that they were anything more than common townsfolk, murdered for absolutely no reason.

Pike sat down on the table she had knelt on and buried her face in her hands, her ears ringing from the shock of what she had just seen, and it took some time before her hearing came back, in time for Vax to exclaim, “What good would it do, Keyleth?”

“It might be able to tell me things! Things we need to know! About the town and the Briarwoods and what happened here!”

Pike raised her head, “What’s this?”

Keyleth replied, “The tree out there. It’s important; Percy told me before we came. It’s called the Sun Tree, it was erected as a tribute to Pelor. I can’t bear to see it be ruined by those people, I can save it, given enough time.”

“How would you get to it though, Keyleth?” Vax sighed. “There’s houses and shops on every side, you would be seen before you took two steps.”

“I would go underground! There’s a cellar, if Grog could prise out some of the stones, I could get to the earth and dig a tunnel to the roots and perform the ritual of _Plant Growth_.”

“It’s a ritual? How long?” Pike asked.

“Eight hours.” Keyleth replied, and the twins simultaneously groaned, but Pike held up her hand. “Let her do it. Keyleth’s saved us with that sort of thing before, I say let her have a go. No-one’s going to spot us in here, and I don’t know how long Cassandra’s going to be out for the count.”

All four of them made their way back downstairs and while Grog and Keyleth went down to the cellar to start a tunnel, the rest of them gathered in the main room, sitting on hastily fixed chairs around dusty tables as Kima asked, “So, Percival de Rolo, I’m guessing we need to find our way into the castle? As the Briarwoods have set themselves up as the new rulers of Whitestone, I have no doubt that they’ll be _in_ the castle.”

Percy nodded, but didn’t break his silence, still watching over Cass as she shook and whimpered. Kima sighed, but pressed on, “ _So_ , how did you escape last time?”

“Luck,” Percy whispered, “And money.”

Despite Percy clearly being deliberately evasive, Pike couldn’t help but smile at the memory of their first conversation with Percy, after everything had come out. Kima, on the other hand, was clearly quickly losing patience with the whole thing, but she was apparently prevented from losing her temper by Allura laying a hand on her arm and saying quietly, “Percival, I know you’re worried about your sister, but anything you can tell us about this place will help.”

There were a few beats of silence, and Pike found herself entirely unsure whether Percy was going to respond or not, before Percy stood up and drew his gun. Pike wasn’t ashamed of her flinch, Percy had been acting strangely since they had set off for Whitestone, and in that moment, Percy could have been about to do anything. As it was, all Percy did was set the gun on the table and angle it so everyone could see it clearly. It was Percy’s ‘handgun’, as opposed to the great massive thing he carried around on his back, and, as far as Pike was aware, nobody apart from Percy had ever looked at it for a prolonged period of time.

“Are those… names?” Vex asked hesitantly. Percy looked at her, a sustained, considered look before slowly nodding. 

“Who are they?” Pike asked next, a slow coil of trepidation curling through her stomach. Percy had kept that little fact secret for a year, and there could be no good reason for him telling the rest of them now.

“The five people responsible for Cassandra and I losing everything. Lord Briarwood, Lady Briarwood, Dr Anna Ripley, Sir Kerrion Stonefell and Professor Anders.” Percy took a deep breath, and as he did so, Pike noticed that his hands were shaking. “My friends know some of this already, but the Briarwoods had help overthrowing my family. These three people remain here, rewarded for their crimes. I want them dead first. I want the Briarwoods to know that the de Rolos are back to claim what is theirs.”

“That’s not our mission here!” Kima protested immediately.

“That’s not _your_ mission here,” Percy countered. “Our desires are similar, but they don’t line up exactly, and I’m not above withholding information to get what I want. I promise you’re not punishing innocent people here, my lady.”

“I am not here to act out some spoilt rich boy’s revenge fantasy!” Kima snapped sharply, and there were at least three sudden intakes of breath at that harsh sentence. Percy, however, was not one of them. He smiled, a sharp, angry expression, as he tucked the gun back into its holster and replied. “You don’t have to. Just don’t get in my way.”

“Percy?”

Cassandra’s soft, childlike voice, different from how she usually spoke, snatched everyone’s attention immediately, and Percy’s expression changed yet again, from an angry, violent man bent on revenge to an older brother concerned about his little sister, the hard, bitter lines on his face melting away to reveal just how young Percy actually was. He darted back over to Cassandra as she sat up, getting an arm around her back to support her as Pike reached out with glowing hands.

She was shocked when Cassandra jerked backwards with a cry, “No, no!”

Pike let the spell fizzle immediately and said, “Cass, it’s me, it’s Pike, I won’t hurt you.”

Cass stayed curled into Percy’s arm around her, and her eyes darted from face to face, the suspicion in them not changing as she looked the concerned faces around her. In the end, she whispered, “Where’s Keyleth?”

“She’s busy, darling.” Vex supplied, perched next to Percy. “Do you remember us?”

“Yes, but I… I don’t… I can’t….” Cassandra leaned forward, clutching her head. “My head feels so heavy, and foggy….”

“Let her rest here,” Pike said, her fingers itching to reach out and help, but without knowing exactly what was going on, she was afraid she might make it worse, and Cassandra had reacted so badly before that Pike was quite sure that any second attempt would produce the same results.

Percy carefully laid Cassandra back down and tucked one of the less dusty cushions under her head, covering her with her own cloak and tucking her in, his movements awkward but tender. When he straightened up from doing it, he said, “Keyleth will be eight hours, correct?”

The question was addressed to the room, but Vax was the one who replied, “Yes. What are you planning, Freddie?”

“The resistance that got me and Cass out of Whitestone in the first place. I recognised one of them, although I never let on that I had. It was the leader of the temple of Pelor here in Whitestone, Father Reynal. He might have a lot of information that could be useful to us in getting into the castle later.” Percy sighed, and looked over at his sister. “He might also know what was done to Cassandra.”

Vax and Vex leaped up simultaneously as Vex said, “Well then, let’s go!” 

Percy smiled, and replied, “Thank you both. I am… more grateful than I can say for your support in this. I was thinking that if Vax and Scanlan would accompany me to find Father Reynal, could Pike and Vex scout around the place, try and find out where the people on my list are? Grog will stay here to watch Keyleth and Cass.”

“And us?” Kima asked mulishly.

Percy raised his eyebrows, “I thought you didn’t want any part of my ‘revenge fantasy’?”

“I don’t!” Kima argued, “But scouting the area is a good idea, and we can help with that at least.” 

“Okay then,” Scanlan clapped his hands together, “Allura and I can’t use invisibility again, so I’m going to cast _Seeming_ and make us all look like peasants, so we won’t stand out. You can do as much sneaking as you like, but at least this way, if we’re caught, we won’t look like anything suspicious.”

Scanlan hummed to himself, before throwing out his hands and covering them in a shower of purple sparks. When Pike looked at herself in a dirty mirror, she could see that her appearance had been changed. She was still blonde and grimy, but her face had been shifted into the face of a small human child, probably to take into account her height, and her armour had been changed into a threadbare dress.

Pike glanced over at Vex, who was similarly disguised and said, in a high-pitched, childlike voice, “Shall we go and check out the town, _Mummy_.”

Vex looked over at her with a truly disgusted face, but held out her hand and Pike took it. They carefully checked outside before stepping out of the abandoned tavern and making their way through the town, pretending not to see Percy, Vax and Scanlan sneaking away behind them. Allura and Kima followed them out, and set off in one direction while Vex and Pike set off in the other direction.

The town didn’t improve in the slightest, regardless of how far the two women travelled. They finally spotted a pub that appeared to be open, but stepping inside was a sobering experience. It was quite full, but maybe three people had drinks in front of them. The rest of them were just huddled together in little groups, whispering to each other, and looking around fearfully. Nearly every head went up when Pike and Vex entered, but they must have appeared non-threatening enough to be ignored.

Even though everyone was whispering, the pub was quiet enough that everything could be overheard, and every now and again, Pike and Vex could hear the names of the people Percy had listed come up, as well as two other names that Percy hadn’t mentioned, but seemed to be whispered with the same level of fear: Duke Goran Vedmeyer and Count Tylieri. 

After a few hours of quietly sitting in the pub, the sky outside started to get dark, and the people in the pub quickly began to disperse. A few of them glanced over to where Vex and Pike were sitting, their faces with furrowed brows, but nobody actually vocalised anything, and Vex and Pike left the pub with the masses and began to make their way back towards the tavern, being careful to avoid the giant undead creatures that roamed the town. 

The sun was nearly completely gone by the time Vex and Pike got back to the abandoned tavern, and as they ducked back in, they were met by Vax, who had been crouching right next to the entrance with a dagger in his hand. Vex hugged him first before moving further into the main room, and Pike did the same thing, asking as she did so, “Is everyone back?”

Vax nodded as he drew back, “Allura and Kima got back about five minutes before you did. Percy says will you please check Cass over again, he’s worried about her.”

“She’s still bad?” Pike asked, as she walked on through, but before Vax could answer, Pike called out, “Scanlan, we’re back, drop the _Seeming_!”

Pike sighed with relief as she saw herself come back into view, and finished making her way back over to where Cassandra was sitting on the table, arms wrapped around herself, her head cocked to one side as if she was listening to something. Pike sat down next to her and asked casually, “How are you feeling, Cass?”

“Small.” Cass replied, not moving from her position sitting on the table. “Lonely.”

Pike frowned, “Do you feel ill?”

“No. Lonely. Alone. Away.”

“Can I check you over?”

Cassandra nodded, and Pike let the light of her spell gather in her hands before she reached out to touch Cassandra’s shoulders, but like before, Cass flinched back before Pike could touch her and began crying out, “No, no, _no_!”

Pike let the spell fizzle, as before, and sighed again. Cassandra shouldn’t be afraid of what Pike could do, she had seen it used multiple times, but it was more than just fear in her face when Pike got close to her. It had been pain as well, and that, _that_ , more than anything else, frightened Pike. Nothing about her magic should have been painful to a human girl, no matter how traumatised she was. Somehow, unbidden, the memory of Percy describing what had happened to Cassandra and himself came back to Pike ‘ _...said she was in danger; that the Briarwoods were trying to make her ‘one of them’._ ’

Pike shivered, but out loud asked, “Where’s your brother, Cass?”

“With Keyleth and Grog. Downstairs.”

Pike jumped down from the table and made her way downstairs. There was nothing but barrels and shelves down in the cellar, and all of it had clearly been empty for a long time. In one corner, the stones had been pulled out and piled up to one side, and on top of them lounged Grog. When Pike came down the stairs, Grog sat up and called out, “Pike! Did you have fun?”

“Not exactly Grog.” Pike smiled, “How about you?”

“It’s been boring.” Grog shrugged. “All I’ve done is watch Keyleth stare at tree roots.”

“But you did a great job,” Pike replied, “And we can go and kill some people soon, I promise.”

Grog grinned, his bloodthirsty, eager grin, before lounging back on his rock pile and waving as Pike made her way down the dark tunnel that Keyleth had made, heading towards the very faint glow at the end of it. As she got closer, she could see the silhouette of two people against the light, and finally reached Percy and Keyleth. Keyleth was sitting cross-legged, her hands pressed against withered tree roots and surrounded by a green glow. Percy was sitting a few feet back, with a torch buried in the ground next to him and his gun laid across his lap.

As Pike approached, Percy called out, “Hello, Pike.”

Pike settled herself on the ground next to Percy and replied, “Hi Percy, hi Keyleth. How’s it going, Keyleth?”

Keyleth nodded her head but didn’t turn around, “It’s going okay. The tree has been dead for a long time, but I’m hoping that this will help. Before I started the ritual, I tried to reach out for any other plant life in the area, to see what’s going on, but everything around here’s dead. It’s so bad, Pike. I don’t know how these people are living.”

“It’s not good anywhere, Keyleth,” Pike replied. “You can’t move yet, right? Everyone’s back, so I’ll bring them down here and we can get organised for tomorrow.”

Getting everyone down into the tunnel Keyleth had dug wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, as it hadn’t intended to be a meeting place, and so everyone was pressed up against each other in ways that could be considered comfortable or not comfortable, depending on who it was you were pressed up against. Pike found herself between Percy and Allura and listening to Allura finish recounting what she and Kima had discovered.

“I think, then, if you really insist on scratching off all of those names on your gun, the only one you’ll be able to get to before having to enter the castle is Kerrion Stonefell.”

Percy nodded and glanced over to Pike, who started to talk, “We heard two more names that are apparently part of the ruling class now: Duke Goran Vedmeyer and Count Tylieri.”

“We heard the name Tylieri as well,” Kima interrupted. “He’s responsible for carrying out a lot of the atrocities that are going on around here, on the Briarwoods’ orders. He hung those people on the tree.”

“I know the name Goran Vedmeyer,” added Percy, and the ice in his voice was enough to send a chill down Pike’s spine, even though the tunnel they were sitting in wasn’t warm to start with. “He was the one who took my sister Whitney.”

Pike saw Cass lean into Vex, and quickly moved the subject on, “Did your group find what it was looking for, Vax?”

Vax looked up from where he had been staring at his hands and replied, “You mean Father Reynal? Yeah, we found him. Stuffed under his bed in the desecrated temple he used to look after.”

Pike gasped and looked over at Scanlan as if he would contradict what Vax had just said, but Scanlan just shook his head and added, “He’d been stabbed to death, about a week ago, from the state we found him in.”

“Fuck,” Vex said succintely, and Vax snorted, “Quite right, sister. Luckily, there’s more to this story. Percival, you want to take over?”

Pike noted that Percy seemed to jump at the sound of his name, even if he covered it quite well, but listened closely as Percy began to talk, “Finding Father Reynal dead was… quite a blow, but there’s another God worshiped here in Whitestone: Erathis, and since he’s a god of civilisation, I thought that the Briarwoods wouldn’t have come down so hard on his worship. So we made our way to the temple of Erathis and met Keeper Yennen. He was speaking to someone I remembered from when I was a boy, Archibald Desnae, so I spoke to them. Said enough to make them curious, and when we got somewhere more private, I made Scanlan drop the _Seeming_ on me.”

Pike caught Allura about to open her mouth, no doubt to explain exactly how _Seeming_ worked, and subtly shook her head. Now was not the right time for a discussion on the semantics of magic.

Percy continued on, oblivious, “They recognised me, and asked after Cass. I asked what had been going on since we’d been gone. It’s bad. A lot of people have been killed, more still have starved to death or died of despair. The crops won’t grow, and periodically, people go up to the castle and disappear. They never come back, and it tends to be people with some magical talents. Something’s going on up at the castle. I asked Keeper Yennen to start spreading the word that the de Rolos are back to take what’s theirs, but they need the peoples’ help.”

“Are you planning on starting a rebellion?” Allura gasped, leaning forward as if proximity would make what Percy just said less true.

Percy barely spared her a glance as he replied, “Yes.”

“You will put every single man, woman and child in this town in danger!” hissed Kima, her face a mask of breathtaking anger, “They don’t have any idea what they’re up against!”

“With all due respect, Lady Kima,” Percy replied, the ice in his voice back so quickly that Pike wondered how he could manage to turn it on and off so well, “I think that given they have lived here for six years, they know exactly what they’re up against.”

Silence fell at that little proclamation, and it carried on until Vax quietly broke it by saying, “Almost everything I’ve heard today says there’s a curfew after dark, so we’re not going anywhere else tonight, and Kiki’s still going to be a little while. I suggest we bed down for the night in the cellar, and see what tomorrow brings. Pike?”

“I think that’s a good idea, Vax,” Pike replied. “Let’s all get some rest.”


End file.
